Socio-Economic Indexes for Areas (SEIFA) summarise the socio-economic conditions of an area using relevant information from the Census. The SEIFA indexes are widely used measures of relative socio-economic advantage and disadvantage at the Census Collector District level. Using 2006 Census data, this paper explores individual level diversity within areas by constructing and analysing two person-based socio-economic indexes: one of relative disadvantage and the other of relative advantage and disadvantage. In addition to illustrating and measuring the diversity of socio-economic advantage and disadvantage within area level SEIFA, the paper serves to highlight the advantages of SEIFA when compared with individual level indexes of relative socio-economic advantage and disadvantage.

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